Method and system for image discovery via navigation of dimensions

ABSTRACT

Method and system for discovering artistic preferences by using a graphical user interface (GUI) tool to navigate through a collection of art images based on one or more dimensions within an art image. The GUI tool allows a user to display one or more selectable dimensions of a first image that, when selected, are used as a query to locate and display other images that have a dimension that is equal or similar to the one or more selected dimensions.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/091,545, filed Apr. 21, 2011, and entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FORIMAGE DISCOVERY VIA NAVIGATION OF DIMENSIONS”, all of which is hereinincorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

At least one embodiment of the present invention pertains to searchingfor images based on a selected dimension of another image, moreparticularly, using a graphical user interface (“GUI”) tool to display asearchable dimension of a first image that when selected by a user, isused as a search query to discover and display other images that have asimilar attribute.

BACKGROUND

Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging symbolicelements in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses,emotions, and intellect. It encompasses a diverse range of humanactivities, creations, and modes of expression, including music,literature, film, photography, sculpture, and paintings. Generally, artis made with the intention of stimulating thoughts and emotions.

Because there are millions of pieces of art available for purchaseonline, the individual seeking to discover new art is confronted with a“needle in the hay stack” challenge of locating a piece of art thatsatisfies that individual's subjective and objective preferences. Onecurrent challenge individuals face when attempting to discover art isthat the current technology fails to provide an effective, intuitive,and efficient discovery tool that can help a user navigate throughmillions of art images to find a preferred art image, based on one ormore searchable art-related dimensions.

Some traditional tools allow an individual to search for art based on akeyword entry that can be used as a query to search for art within agroup (e.g. a database), based on, for example, a piece of art's title,an artist's name, or a medium (e.g., a painting, tapestry, orsculpture). However, these tools limit the search to a small number ofcharacteristics that result in resultant images that may be poorlycorrelated to the initial query. Additionally, the keyword searchessentially acts as a filter narrowing the possible choices.

Another problem with these tools is that they are based on theassumption that the individual generally knows what he or she is lookingfor. Traditional tools are designed to converge on a single result, in amanner that is similar to searching the Yellow Pages for an address fora specific retailer or searching for the answer to the question, “Whatis the capital of California.” This approach may be effective for anindividual seeking a particular piece of art, such as a specific workcreated by Mark Rothko or a twentieth-century Rwandan bottle, forexample; however, traditional tools fail to effectively help thoseindividuals seeking to discover new art. Therefore, prior art hasfocused on the destination, the end goal of a search for art, not on thejourney or the individual's path of discovery leading up to the endgoal.

An individual who is on an educational journey to discover art may onlypossess a notion about the type of art that they are seeking. Forexample, they may only have a notion about a color scheme, a choice oflighting, a theme, or a subject used in the art; however, the individualmay not initially have a preference concerning the other aspects, suchas the medium (i.e. photograph, painting, tapestry, sculpture, etc.),and/or the artist.

In some cases, when discovering an art image, an individual maydetermine that only a subset of qualities of the image is desirable. Inthis case, the individual may wish to find more art that has thesedesirable qualities. However, traditional tools fail to provide anefficient, user-friendly method to allow the individual to effectivelybroaden the previous search into a new search for those art images thathave the desirable qualities.

Therefore, the failure of current search technology to accurately andeffectively allow an individual to discover art images based onparticular, searchable dimensions limits the individual's discovery ofart.

SUMMARY

Introduced herein are a method and system for discovering and displayinguser-preferred pieces of art by searching a collection of art images bynavigating through one or more selected dimensions of a first image.

In one embodiment, a user is presented with a first image and one ormore dimensions of the first image by an image processing system. Thefirst image can be presented to the user on a webpage. In a particularembodiment, the first image can be displayed on the webpage as a resultof an initial keyword search performed by the user. The keyword searchmay be for a particular genre or a particular work of art, such as akeyword search for “Van Gogh,” for example. In this example, the searchfor “Van Gogh” may result in the display of one or more images from acollection of Van Gogh's artwork. One or more dimensions of thedisplayed image can be selected by the user and utilized as part of asubsequent search to further discover other pieces of art related to theselected dimensions.

A dimension is an aspect or a characteristic associated with an artimage. An art image may have any number of dimensions, such as, forexample, the subject in the art piece, the artist who created the art,the colors used in the art, and/or a combination of characteristicsuseful for discovering pieces of art that are similar to another artimage. A dimension can be manually associated with an art image as itcan be entered into a database associated with the art image, forexample. Alternatively, a dimension can be automatically extrapolatedfrom an image using the image processing system's hardware, software, ora combination thereof.

A dimension of an art image may be based on a single characteristic,such as an artist's name or a work of art's title. In some embodiments,the user may select more than one dimension to initiate amultidimensional search for new art images. Alternatively oradditionally, a dimension may be based on a function of multiplecharacteristics that are used in combination. A dimension havingmultiple characteristics may be based on a piece of art's combined useof texture, lighting, shapes and contours, and color balance, forexample. For example, one dimension having multiple characteristics maybe used to discover art pieces substantially similar to the first image.

A dimension of an art image can be user-selectable. A dimension selectedby a user can trigger a discovery process to locate and display otherart images that have a dimension that is equal or similar to theselected dimension. In one embodiment, multiple dimensions of the firstimage can be selected and utilized by the image processing system as amultidimensional query for discovering art images that have a dimensionthat is substantially equal to each of the user-selected dimensions.

The image processing system can provide a graphical association(“mapping” or “overlay”) of an art image's respective dimensions. Theuser can utilize an input tool, such as a mouse, to individually selectan art image in order to display a graphical overlay of the dimensionsof the selected art image. The graphical overlay functions as a toolthat allows the user to intuitively discover other pieces of art withina collection of art that have one or more dimensions that correlate tothe selected dimension. For example, when an art image is selected, insome embodiments, the graphical overlay displays the selected image'sdimension(s), and each displayed dimension is selectable so thatsubsequent searches based on one or more of the selected dimensions canbe performed.

Continuing with the above example, the user can utilize an input tool,such as a mouse, to individually select one of the displayed images ofVan Gogh. As a consequence of selecting The Starry Night, for example, agraphical overlay of the dimensions associated with The Starry Night aredisplayed to the user, where each displayed dimension is capable ofbeing selected by the user to discover other art images that are relatedto the selected dimension(s) of The Starry Night. The user can selectone or more of the displayed dimensions to trigger a new search forother art images that have dimensions that are equal or similar to theselected dimension(s). For example, the user may select a colordimension, which initiates a search for other art within a collection ofart images that has substantially the same colors utilized in The StarryNight. Alternatively or additionally, the user may select a subjectmatter dimension to cause the image processing system to locate artimages that have the same subject-matter as The Starry Night, such as anight sky, swirling clouds, and stars above a small town.

In another embodiment, the graphical overlay may be semi-permanentlydisplayed by the image processing system so that the user does not haveto select an art image before its dimensions are displayed. In yetanother embodiment, the graphical overlay can use a user's recordeddislikes to determine what kind of art the user may prefer. For example,the graphical overlay can display multiple art images that are similarto a first art image. The user can select one or more non-preferredimages from the multiple images to cause the image processing system toextrapolate the dimensions of the non-preferred images that can be usedas one or more filters to determine the preferred art images from thecollection of art images.

To facilitate the user's discovery of new art based on a selecteddimension of a first art image, the image processing system can base thesearch for new art from a collection of art on an entirely differentdimension, genre, classification, and/or medium associated with theresultant image, for example. By broadening the available pool of artused for discovery the user can explore art that is substantiallydifferent from the original, first image, except for the selecteddimension. For example, by selecting the color dimension of The StarryNight, the user may be led to discover a painting by Rothko, a Chinesevase, and/or a tapestry, where each has the same blue, yellow, black andwhite colors used in The Starry Night.

The image processing system can store a user's previous selections toincrease the likelihood of determining a particular user's artpreference. For example, if the picture of Rothko from the previousexample is selected after The Starry Night was selected, in someembodiments, the image processing system will use the dimensions of bothThe Starry Night and the picture of Rothko, in combination, to determinethe next list of art images to display to the user.

The number of dimensions associated with an art image corresponds to thenumber of characteristics that are recorded for the art image. In someembodiments an image may have multiple dimensions and in otherembodiments an image may have a single dimension. In one embodiment, thenumber of dimensions displayed to a user can be a function of the shapeart image. For example, a five-sided art image may have five displayeddimensions, one for each side of the image. In one embodiment, aselected art image has four dimensions, each of which are graphicallyrepresented on each of the four sides of the selected art image.

The particular kind of dimensions displayed to the user can bedetermined by the nature of the object within a selected image, or itcan be automatically generated by the image processing system, forexample, based on a probability and/or user preference stating that aparticular dimension is of a higher interest to a user than anotherdimension.

In one embodiment, the selection of a dimension may lead to a display ofsub-dimensions of the selected dimension, that, when selected, caninitiate the discovery process to find art images that have the selecteddimension.

In a further embodiment, the image processing system can be utilized tofind other types of images that are not art images. For example, thetechniques described above can operate similarly on any transactionalentity, such as clothing, furniture, vehicles, homes, accessories,books, and even people within dating websites.

The solution presented herein overcomes the problems of the prior art'sfailure to accurately determine a user's art preferences by utilizing aprocess for discovering new art based on one or more art dimensions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

One or more embodiments of the present invention are illustrated by wayof example and are not limited by the figures of the accompanyingdrawings, in which like references indicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 illustrates an online image processing environment in which thepresent invention can be implemented.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardwarearchitecture of a computer that can perform the disclosed method andsystem.

FIG. 3 is an example representation of a graphical user interface toolthat can perform the disclosed method and system.

FIG. 4 a is an example e-commerce website that can perform the disclosedmethod and system.

FIG. 4 b is an example of a GUI tool for discovering art images based onartistic dimensions.

FIG. 4 c illustrates sub-dimensions of a dimension of an art image.

FIG. 4 d illustrates broadening the discovery of art images based on aselection of a sub-dimension.

FIG. 4 e illustrates art images based on a selection of a colordimension.

FIG. 4 f illustrates an e-commerce purchasing system that can beutilized by the user to purchase a discovered art image.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for determining a user'spreference for art based on the user's selection of a dimension of anart image.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

References in this specification to “an embodiment,” “one embodiment,”or the like, mean that the particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic being described is included in at least one embodiment ofthe present invention. Occurrences of such phrases in this specificationdo not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment. References in thisspecification to “art,” “art work,” “piece of art,” “art object,” “artimage,” “art image” or the like, are used interchangeably.

Though the specification refers to “art,” an “art processingenvironment” and “art images,” the disclosed methods and systemscontemplate the use of non-art-related objects; however, “art” is usedthroughout the specification to aid in the illustration of the disclosedmethod and system, not to serve as a limitation. The disclosed methodand system can be utilized with art images or images of other entities.For example, the techniques described below can similarly operate on anytransactional entity, such as clothing, furniture, vehicles, homes,accessories, books, and even dating websites.

FIG. 1 illustrates an online image processing environment 100 in whichthe present invention can be implemented. The online image processingenvironment described herein is for illustration of one type ofconfiguration in which the techniques can be implemented. Other onlineimage processing configurations and schemes can also be used forimplementing the techniques introduced herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates an online image processing environment 100, whichincludes a server system 102 connected via a network 106 to client 104.The environment 100 can be utilized to perform aspects of the invention.For example, in one embodiment the environment 100 is used to determinea user's art preference based on the user's selection of an artisticdimension 101 of an art image 103 that has been displayed to the user.

The server 102 may be, for example, a standard computing system such asa personal computer or server-class computer, equipped with an operatingsystem. The server 102 may perform various functions and managementoperations, such as storing art images 103, determining the dimensions101 of the art images 103, storing and applying user preferences,receiving input from client 104, presenting user-selectable dimensions101 of an art image 103 in a GUI 105 displayed at the client 104, andcompleting a user's online purchase of an art image 103.

Art images 103 are electronic files that store data representing anactual work of art or other object. The art images 103 can be stored onthe server 102 and viewable by a user at client 104 via a display 105,web browser or other remote viewing device. Optionally, the art images103 can be transferred over the network 106 and stored at client 104.Each art image 103 can consist of any medium, whether it is a picture orother wall covering, sculpture, architecture, metal work, ceramic, bust,vase, etc. Furthermore and as previously described, an art image 103 cancontain non-art-related objects, such as books, apparel, furniture,vehicles, etc. The number of art images 103 available is variablydependent on the storage capacity available to the server 102.

The server 102 can connect, via the computer network 106, to client 104.Network 106 can be, for example, a telecommunications network, such asthose based on second generation, third generation, or fourth generationmobile technology; a local area network; wide area network; or a globalarea network, such as the Internet, and can make use of any conventionalor non-conventional network technologies.

The client 104 can be a standard computing device, such as a particularcomputer, laptop computer, tablet, or other computing system capable ofconnecting to the network 106. Additionally, client 104 can be astandard mobile computing device, such as an iPhone, Blackberry, orAndroid-based mobile phone, capable of connecting to the server 102through the network 106.

The client 104 may include an input device (not shown), such as akeyboard, mouse, and/or touch-sensitive display 105 that receives inputfor performing functions based on user input. Additionally, the client104 has a display 105 capable of displaying a web browser and/or a GUI,such as a graphical overlay tool, as described below. The client 104 mayperform various functions and management operations, such as displayingimages from the server 102, receiving user queries for art images,displaying a GUI tool for selecting the dimensions 101 of an art image103, receiving the user's selected dimension for discovering new artimages, and entering user preferences. Within the online imageprocessing environment 100, any other suitable numbers of servers,clients, images, and/or networks may be employed.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the internal architecture200 of the server 102 that can implement one or more features of theinvention. In the illustrated embodiment, the architecture 200 is acomputer system that includes a processor subsystem 202 that furtherincludes one or more processors. The server architecture 200 furtherincludes a memory 204 including portions of an operating system 205, anetwork adapter 206, a storage device 208, a dimension module 212, avisualization module 214, and a search module 216, each interconnectedby an interconnect 217 and powered by a power supply 218.

The architecture 200 can be embodied as a single- or multi-processorimage processing system executing the server 102 that preferablyimplements a high-level module to determine and store the dimensions 101of an art image 103, which are displayed for a user at a display 105 sothat other art images 103 can be found that likely conform to the user'sart preferences.

The memory 204 illustratively comprises storage locations that areaddressable by the processors 202 and modules 212 through 216 in orderto store software program code and data structures associated with thedisclosed techniques. The processor 202 and modules 212 through 216 may,in turn, comprise processing elements and/or logic circuitry configuredto execute the software code and manipulate the data structures. Theoperating system 205, portions of which are typically resident in thememory 204 and executed by the processor(s) 202, functionally organizesthe server architecture 200 by (among other things) configuring theprocessor(s) 202 to invoke storage-, search-, visualization-, anddimension-related operations in support of the present invention. Itwill be apparent to those skilled in the art that other processing andmemory implementations, including various computer readable storagemedia, may be used for storing and executing program instructionspertaining to the techniques introduced here.

The network adapter 206 includes one or more ports to couple thearchitecture 200 via the network 106 to the client 104. The networkadapter 206 thus can include the mechanical, electrical, and signalingcircuitry needed to connect the architecture 200 to the network 106. Theserver 102 and the client 104 can communicate, via the network 106, byexchanging discrete frames or packets of data (not shown) according topredefined protocols, such as Transmission Control Protocol and InternetProtocol. For example, the network adapter 206 can receive packets fromthe client 104, wherein the packets contain a user's selection of one ormore of the dimensions 101 of an art image 103.

The storage device 208 cooperates with the operating system 205 toaccess information that has been requested by the server 102. Data 220,including art images 103, the dimensions 101 associated with eachrespective art images 103, and user profiles/preferences can be storedon any type of attached writable storage media, such as a magnetic diskor tape, optical disk (e.g., CD-ROM or DVD), flash memory, solid-statedisk, electronic random access memory, micro-electro mechanical and/orany other similar media adapted to store data 220, including metadataand parity information. The storage device 208 may be external to thearchitecture 200 and accessible via a storage adapter (not shown),however as illustratively described herein, the information is stored ona non-volatile mass storage device within the architecture 200.

The operating system 205 facilitates the server's access to data 220,including art images 103 and their respective dimensions 101. Theoperating system 205 can be a conventional operating system, such asWindows®, Macintosh®, UNIX or Linux®.

The dimension module 216 contains logic sufficient to receive an artimage 103 and extrapolate one or more dimensions 101 from the art image103. An art image 103 that is used by the dimension module 216 can bestored with a dimension 101 that is associated with the art image 103,as data 220. The dimension 101 is a characteristic of the art image 103,such as the subject portrayed in the art image 103, the artist whocreated the art image 103, the colors used in the art image 103, and/ora combination of these or other characteristics (e.g. a texturecharacteristic, a lighting characteristic, a color balancecharacteristic, a shape characteristic, a contour characteristic, and aface recognition characteristic). The dimension 101 can be manuallyassociated with the art image 103, for example, the dimension 101 can beentered as data 202 into a database and/or storage location that isassociated with the art image 103. Alternatively of additionally, thedimension 101 can be automatically extrapolated from the art image 103using the dimension module 212, which can identify a characteristic frommetadata within the art image 103.

The dimension 101 may be based on a single characteristic, such as thecolor utilized in the piece of art, the artist's name, and/or thesubject(s) within the art. Alternatively or additionally, the dimension101 may be based on a combination of characteristics. For example, asimilarity dimension, used to identify an art image 103 that is similarto a selected image, can be based on a combination of multiplecharacteristics, such as the art image's 103 use of texture, lighting,shapes and contours, and color balance.

In one embodiment, the dimension 101 of the art image 103 is userselected. For example, the dimension module 212, working with thenetwork adapter 206, can send via the network 106 an art image 103 andits respective one or more dimensions 101 from the server 102 to bedisplayed at the client 104. The display 105 of the client 104 candisplay the art image 103 and the one or more dimensions 101 that areassociated with the art images 103. The dimension 101 can be selected byusing an input device, such as a mouse or touch screen, as describedbelow. The selected dimension 101 can initiate the discovery process forsearching and displaying other art images 103 that have a dimension thatis equal or similar to the selected dimension 101.

The visualization module 214 contains logic sufficient to performaspects of the presented techniques, such as creating a GUI tool 300 fordiscovering new art images 103 based on one or more dimensions 101 ofthe art image 103. The GUI tool 300 allows a user to intuitivelydiscover art images 103 that have a dimension 101 that is equal orsimilar to a selected dimension of another art image 103.

In one embodiment, the GUI tool 300 can show on a display 105 a list ofthe art images 103 and a graphical overlay of the one or more dimensions101 of a displayed art image 103. A portion of the list of displayed artimages 103 may initially be shown using a webpage that is viewable atthe display 105, for example. A user can use an input tool, such as amouse, to select a displayed art image 103 to initiate a display of theGUI tool 300. In some embodiments, a user can select an art image 103 bymoving the input device over the art image 103, causing the GUI tool 300to display the dimension(s) 101 associated with the selected art image103.

FIG. 3 is an example representation of a GUI tool 300 that can performthe disclosed method and system. In one embodiment, the GUI tool 300displays one or more art images 103 and dimensions 101 of the art image103 on a display 105. The number of dimensions 101 displayed by the GUItool 300 can be based on the shape of the art image 103. For example, afive-sided art image 103 may have five displayed dimensions 101, one oneach axis of the art image 101. In another example, and as illustratedin FIG. 3, the GUI tool 300 displays an image of a picture of a heart304 and four dimensions 306, 308, 310, 312 overlain across the axes ofthe image of the heart 304. When an art image 103 has several dimensions101, the image processing environment 100 can automatically choose whichparticular dimension to display based on, for example, the probability,as determined from previously collected user preferences that aparticular dimension is of higher interest to a user than anotherdimension. Alternatively or additionally, that administrator of theimage processing environment 100 can manually choose which dimensionshould be displayed.

The user can select displayed dimension 306-312 of the image of theheart 304 so that it can be used to discover new art images that arerelated to the selected dimension(s). The user may select one or more ofthe displayed dimensions 306-312 to initiate a query to search the artimages 103 for art that has a dimension that is equal or similar to theselected dimension. For example, the user may select a color dimension308 and initiate a search for other art within the collection that usessubstantially the same colors as the colors used in the image of theheart 304. An artist dimension 306 is a dimension 101 that, whenselected, causes a search for other art images 103 made by the artistwho created the image of the heart 304, for example. The user may selecta subject-matter dimension 310, which can be used by the imageprocessing environment 100 to locate art that has the same or similarsubject matter as the art image 103, such as the heart 314 and/or thearrow 316.

In some embodiments, the selection of a dimension 101 may lead the GUItool 300 to display selectable sub-dimensions (not shown) of theselected dimension. For example, the subject-matter dimension 310 of theimage of the heart 304 may have sub-dimensions, such as “hearts,”“arrows,” “love,” “20th century abstract,” “abstract,” “abstract art byform,” “abstract expressionism,” “American art,” “fine art,” and/or“modern art,” for example. The selection of a sub-dimension can initiatea new discovery process, similar to the one previously described.

In another embodiment, the GUI tool 300 may be semi-permanentlydisplayed by the visualization module 214 so that the user does not haveto select the art image 103 before its dimensions 306-312 are displayedto the user.

In yet another embodiment, the visualization module 214, in conjunctionwith the GUI tool 300, can display art images 103 that the user candesignate as non-preferred images. The image processing environment 100can use the dimensions 101 of the non-preferred images to determinewhich art images that are preferred by the user. For example, thevisualization module 214 can configure the GUI tool 300 to present theuser with multiple art images 103 so that the use can choose which oneor more images that have one or more dimensions 101 that the userdislikes. The image processing environment 100 can record the user'sselection(s) and extrapolate their dimensions 101 to be used as filterswhen determining which new art images 103 the user may prefer.

The image processing environment 100 may base a new search for artimages from a collection of art images 103 on a related, or entirelydifferent dimension 101, genre, classification, and/or medium that isassociated with a newly selected art image 103, for example. Bybroadening the available pool of art the user can explore art that issubstantially different from the originally selected art image, exceptfor the selected dimension. For example, selecting of the colordimension 308 of the image of the heart 304 may cause a painting by MarkRothko, a Chinese vase, and/or a tapestry to be displayed, where eachitem has the color dimension 308 of the image of the heart 304, but isotherwise pseudo-randomly selected so that the user can discover new artof various types.

The image processing environment 100 can store a user's previouslyselected art images 103 to increase the likelihood of determining theuser's art preferences. For example, if the picture by Rothko from theprevious example is selected after the image of the heart 304, in someembodiments the image processing environment 100 will use dimensions 101of both the image of the heart 304 and the picture of Rothko (not shown)in combination to determine a potential list of art images 103 to bedisplayed at the client 104.

The search module 216 contains logic sufficient to search for art images103 based on user input from the client 104. The user input from theclient 104 may be a keyboard entry for a particular piece of art,artist, genre, or keyword, for example. Alternatively or additionally, auser input may be a selection from a predefined menu of categories thatdescribe certain aspects of the art images 103. User input can also begenerated when a user selects an art image 103 and/or a dimension 101that is graphically represented on the GUI tool 300.

As discussed above, the discovery process for new art can be initiatedwhen a user selects of a displayed dimension 306-312 of the image of theheart 304, for example. In one embodiment, the network adapter 206 ofthe image processing environment 100 receives the selected dimensionfrom the client 104 via network 106. The search module 216 can use theselected dimension as a query to search the art images 103 for one ormore images that have a dimension 101 that is similar to the selecteddimension.

The search module 216 can perform a search by searching all or a portionof the art images 103 in a collection of art. Continuing from theprevious example, if the user selected the color dimension 308associated with the image of the heart 304 to be a focal point of adiscovery of new art, the search module 208 can broadly search throughthe art images 103 by different artists, of various mediums (fine art,sculptures, tapestries, etc), and with various subject matters, so longas each piece of art utilizes the color dimension 308 of the image ofthe heart. Thus, the search module 126 can broaden the available pool ofsearchable art images 103 to include substantially different genres ofart, for example, to enhance the user's process for discoveringpreferred art from semi-unrelated art genres.

Alternatively, the search module 216 may confine the discovery of newart to art images 103 having a particular dimension, even when theparticular dimension is not user-selected. For example, when a userselects the color dimension 308, the search module 216 can limit thesearch to art images 103 both having the selected color dimension 308 ofthe image of the heart 304, and being of the same medium dimension (notshown) as the image of the heart 304. A user can thus narrow a search toa subset of art images 103 based on an expressed or implied preferencespecifying that a user looking for paintings having a certain colordimension 308, for instance, only desires other paintings with thatcolor dimension 308, but is not interested in a sculpture or a tapestry.

In one embodiment, a history of previously viewed images can bemaintained by the system (200). This history can be displayed to theuser to allow the user to retrace his/her steps to rediscover andexplore previously viewed images.

The client 104 shares an internal architecture similar to the previouslydescribed architecture 200, illustrated in FIG. 2. Therefore, thepertinent features described for the architecture 200 are additionallyapplicable to the client 104. Particularly, the client 104 has aprocessor 202, memory 204 having an operating system 205, power supply218, network adapter 206, storage device 208, and interconnect 217. Inaddition to the features described for the architecture 200, the client104 includes an input module for selecting and/or entering data, and adisplay module for displaying data, such as the GUI tool 300, art images103, dimensions 101 of the art image 103, and other data communicatedbetween the client 104 and the server 102.

FIGS. 4 a-4 f illustrate a work-flow for purchasing a discovered artimage from an online e-commerce website 400. FIG. 4 a is an examplee-commerce website 400 provided by the server 102 and shown at thedisplay 105 of the client 104. In one embodiment, a user can start adiscovery for art by entering a keyword into a keyword search field 402.Furthermore, the user can select a predefined category 404 to search forart images. In this example, the user entered “Vincent Van Gogh” intothe keyword search field 402, which resulted in the display of a list ofart images 408, including Van Gogh's The Starry Night 410.

FIG. 4 b is an example of the GUI tool 300 used to discover art images103 based on artistic dimensions 101. FIG. 4 b shows the GUI tool 300 asan object 420 on the website 400. The object 420 can be displayed on thewebsite 400 after the user selects an art image 103, such as an imagefrom the list of art images 408. In this example, the object 420 isshown on the website 400 as a result of the user selecting The StarryNight 410 from the list of art images 408.

The object 420 has four displayed dimensions 422, 424, 426, and 428, oneat each side of The Starry Night 410. However, in another embodiment,additional or fewer dimensions 101 can be displayed. The four displayeddimensions 422, 424, 426, and 428 include a similarity dimension 422(i.e. “see more like this”), a color dimension 424 (i.e. “more withthese colors”), an artist dimension 426 (i.e. “more by this artist), anda subject dimension 428 (i.e. “more from this subject”). Each of thefour displayed dimensions 422, 424, 426, and 428 can be selected toinitiate a further discovery for additional art images that are based onthe selected dimension.

FIG. 4 c illustrates sub-dimensions 430 of a dimension 428 associatedwith an art image. More particularly, FIG. 4 c shows sub-dimensions 430of the subject dimension 428 associated with The Starry Night 420. Thesub-dimensions 430 are contained within a separate window 434 that isextended from the selected dimension 428, however, other positions andconfiguration are contemplated. Each sub-dimension 430 can be selectedby the user to continue their discovery for other art images related tothe selected sub-dimension. In this example, the user may select todiscover more art images based on the “19^(th) Century Movements”sub-dimension 432.

FIG. 4 d illustrates broadening the discovery for art images based on aselection of a sub-dimension. Specifically, FIG. 4 d displays discoveredart images 440 based on the user's selection of the “19^(th) CenturyMovements” sub-dimension 432 of the subject dimension 428 of The StarryNight 420. The discovered art images 440 are displayed because eachimage has a characteristic associated with art from “19^(th) CenturyMovements.” However, the discovered art images' 440 other dimensions maybe different from any or all other dimensions 101 and/or sub-dimensionsassociated with The Starry Night 420. In this regard, the discovered artimages 440 broaden the type and range of art images 103 from which theuser can continue exploration. Similar to the description andillustration of FIG. 4 b, an art image from the discovered art images440 can be selected by the user to display its dimensions 101 that, whenselected, further direct the user's discovery process according to theselected dimension.

FIG. 4 e illustrates art images having a color dimension of a selectedart image. Specifically, FIG. 4 e shows discovered art images 450displayed as a result of the user's selection of the color dimension 424of The Starry Night 420. Each discovered art image 450 has colorssimilar to those used in The Starry Night 420. However, to broaden thetypes of art images 103 available for discovery, the other dimensions ofthe discovered art images 450 may be different from any or all otherdimensions 101 that are associated with The Starry Night 420. Similar tothe description and illustration of FIG. 4 b, a discovered art image 440can be selected by the user to display its dimensions 101 that, whenselected, further direct the user's discovery process according to thatselected dimension.

FIG. 4 f illustrates an e-commerce purchasing system 460 that can beutilized by the user to purchase a discovered art image. Specifically,FIG. 4 f shows a shopping cart 462 that can receive one or morediscovered art images 464. Various billing functionality can be builtinto the e-commerce platform to enable the use of Credit Cards, DebitCards, bank transfers, and third-party transactions, such as PayPal 464.

FIG. 5 illustrates a high-level overview of a sequence 500 utilized bythe disclosed method to make available for purchase an art image 103discovered by searching for dimensions 101 in a collection of art images103.

Step 502 describes a process for receiving art images 103 at the server102. The art images 103 can be locally uploaded as data 220 to thestorage device 208 and/or remotely received via the network 106 to thenetwork adapter 206.

Step 504 describes the process for determining one or more dimensions101 for each of the art images 103. In one embodiment, the dimensions101 are provided manually with the art images 103 as data 220.Alternatively or additionally, dimensions 101 can be automaticallydetermined by the dimension module 212. For example, the dimensionmodule 212 can be configured with an algorithm used to detect acharacteristic of a dimension 101 from an art image's 103 metadata.

Step 506 describes the process for associating dimensions 101 with arespective image of the art images 103 such that the art image 101 andthe dimension 101 are easily retrieved by the dimension module 212. Forexample, a database or file system can be used to associate an art image101 and its corresponding dimension(s) 101.

Step 508 describes the process of receiving a user's selection of an artimage 103. As previously described, art images 103 are displayed at aclient 104. A user at the client 104 can select a displayed art image103 and/or search for another art image 103. Several art images 103 canbe simultaneously displayed by the GUI tool 300 at the client 104. Theuser can select a particular art image 103 by navigating an inputdevice, such as a mouse, to the particular image and clicking orotherwise indicating a selection of the particular image. In anotherembodiment, the user selects a particular art image simply by placing anindicator, such as a mouse or a finger, on or near the image.

Step 510 describes the process of displaying the dimensions 101 of theart image 103 selected in step 508. Once the user, in step 508, locatesa desirable art image 103, the user can select that image to reveal oneor more of its dimensions 101. Dimensions 101 can be displayed at theclient 104. In one embodiment, the dimensions of an art image 103 aredisplayed simultaneously with the art image 104. In a furtherembodiment, the dimensions are displayed across one or more axes of theperimeter of the art image 104. Dimensions 101 can be represented astext, hypertext, or a graphical indicator of the dimension 101, such asan arrow or other symbol, for example. In one embodiment, the dimension101, or its graphical representation, is selectable. Selecting thedimension 101 can reveal one or more sub-dimensions related to theselected dimension 101. Alternatively or additionally, selecting adimension or sub-dimension can initiate a search for another art imagethat has a dimension that is substantially similar to the selecteddimension.

Step 511 describes the process for receiving the dimensions selected instep 510. A selected dimension can be received from the client 104 viathe network 106. Communications between the client 104 and the server102 may use any communication protocol know in the art for transportingdigital or analogue information across a network 106, such as theInternet or a local area network (LAN). In one embodiment, informationsuch as a selected dimension is sent in the form or data packets thatcarry portions of the selected dimension to the server 102.

Step 512 describes the process for determining and sending new artimages 103 to the client 104 based on the selected dimensions that werereceived in step 511. Once the selected dimensions are received, in step511, the search module 216 uses the selected dimensions as a query tosearch for art images 103 that have a dimension that is similar to theselected dimension. For instance, if the selected dimension was anartist dimension 506 for “Van Gogh,” for example, those art images 103having an artist-dimension associated with the artist Van Gogh arereturned and sent to the display 105 at the client 104.

Steps 508-512 can be repeated (513) while the user discovers art basedon selecting one or more dimensions 101 of the art image displayed atthe client 104. For example, the user may first select an image of VanGogh's The Starry Night that is displayed on a webpage and/or a GUIprovided by the server 102. Upon selection of the image of The StarryNight, its dimensions 101 are displayed at the client 104, per step 508.The displayed dimension can include any of the dimensions 101 associatedwith The Starry Night, such as a color dimension 308, artist dimension306, subject-matter dimension 510, or similarity dimension 512. If theuser selects the color dimension 308, it is sent to the server 102, perstep 511, where it is used as a query to find and return other artimages 103 that contain similar colors as those used in The StarryNight, per step 512. For example, one image with similar colors as TheStarry Night may be a picture of wildflowers, and another image may beof a Chinese vase. These other images are sent for delivery to theclient 104, where the user can, per step 508, select one of the imagesto display its dimensions, per step 510. For example, the user maydetermine that the picture of the wildflowers is preferable and selectthat image to reveal its dimensions 101. Per step 408, the user maychoose the similarity dimension, which, per steps 508-512, could resultin the search and display of other pictures of wildflowers that have thesame subject, color, and/or other dimensions that are similar to thedimensions of the image of the wildflower. This process can repeat (513)until the user discovers an art image 103 that the user would like topurchase.

Step 514 describes the process for receiving an order to purchase aversion of the art image 103 discovered in steps 508-512. Once the userdiscovers an art image 103 that he or she wants to purchase, the userplaces an order for a version of the art image 103 at the server 102. Aversion of the art image 103 may be customized by the user. For example,the user may be able to customize the art image 103 by changing thesize, matting, framing, and covering of the art image 103. The art image103 or the customized art image may be added to a shopping cart of astandard e-commerce system. The image processing environment 100 iscompatible with e-commerce systems and the disclosed method and systemhave the necessary technology to support financial transactions,including credit card and debit card-based transactions, wire transfers,and check processing.

The techniques introduced above can be implemented by programmablecircuitry programmed or configured by software and/or firmware, orentirely by special-purpose circuitry, or in a combination of suchforms. Such special-purpose circuitry (if any) can be in the form of,for example, one or more application-specific integrated circuits,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays, etc.

Software or firmware for implementing the techniques introduced here maybe stored on a machine-readable storage medium and may be executed byone or more general-purpose or special-purpose programmablemicroprocessors. A machine-readable medium, as the term is used herein,includes any mechanism that can store information in a form accessibleby a machine (a machine may be, for example, a computer, network device,cellular phone, particular digital assistant, manufacturing tool, anydevice with one or more processors, etc.). For example, amachine-accessible medium includes recordable/non-recordable media(e.g., read-only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic diskstorage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices), etc.

The term “logic,” as used herein, can include, for example,special-purpose hardwired circuitry, software and/or firmware inconjunction with programmable circuitry, or a combination thereof.

Although the present invention has been described with reference tospecific exemplary embodiments, it will be recognized that the inventionis not limited to the embodiments described, but can be practiced withmodification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regardedin an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: displaying a first pluralityof images at a graphical user interface (GUI) tool designed fordiscovering images of objects; retrieving a plurality of dimensions of afirst image of the first plurality of images; displaying the dimensionsof the first image, the displaying the dimensions including determininga shape of the first image, determining a number of the dimensions to bedisplayed as a function of the shape of the first image, and displayingthe determined number of dimensions; receiving a selection of one ormore of the dimensions of the first image; and performing, using theselected one or more dimensions of the first image as a first query, afirst search for a second plurality of images, wherein each image of thesecond plurality of images has one or more dimensions corresponding tothe one or more selected dimensions of the first image.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the shape of the first image is a polygon having apredetermined number of sides, and wherein displaying the determinednumber of dimensions includes displaying at least one dimension on eachside.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving aselection of a second image from the second plurality of images; anddisplaying the second image and one or more dimensions of the secondimage at the GUI tool, wherein a number of the one or more dimensions ofthe second image displayed is determined as a function of a shape of thesecond image; receiving a selection of a dimension of the one or moredimensions of the second image; and performing, using the selecteddimension a second query to perform a second search for a thirdplurality of images, wherein each image of the third plurality of imageshas a dimension corresponding to the selected dimension of the secondimage.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the second plurality of imagescontains images not included in the first plurality of images and thethird plurality of images contains images not included in the secondplurality of images.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:associating one or more dimensions with each image of the first andsecond plurality of images.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining the one or more dimensions of the first imagebased on a characteristic of the first image, wherein the characteristicis a distinguishable quality detectable within the first image.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first, second and third plurality ofimages are art images.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein a dimension-ofthe one or more dimensions includes at least one of a color dimension,an artist dimension, a similarity dimension, and a subject dimension,wherein the color dimension includes colors within an image of the firstor second plurality of images, wherein the artist dimension includes aname of the creator of the image, and wherein the subject dimensionincludes one or more themes within the image.
 9. The method of claim 8,wherein the similarity dimension includes a combination ofcharacteristics used to determine a degree of similarity of the imagewith a next image of the first or second plurality of images.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, wherein the combination of characteristics includestwo or more of a texture characteristic, a lighting characteristic, acolor balance characteristic, a shape characteristic, a contourcharacteristic, and a face recognition characteristic.
 11. A methodcomprising: associating a set of dimensions with each art image of anumber of art images, the art images configured to be searched by a userusing the set of dimensions; in response to receiving a selection of afirst art image of the art images, determining a subset of the set ofdimensions of the first image to be displayed to a user, the subsetdetermined based on a probability of the set of dimensions, theprobability determined using previously collected user preference forthe set of dimensions of the first image; displaying the subset of theset of dimensions associated with the first art image; receiving a userselection of a dimension from the subset of the set of dimensionsassociated with the first art image; and performing a search for a firstsubset of the art images, wherein each image of the first subset of theart images has at least one dimension corresponding to the selecteddimension.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining theprobability using the previously collected user preference includesdetermining the probability based on whether a particular dimension isof higher interest to the user than another dimension.
 13. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the user preferences includes data regarding the artimages that are disliked by the user, and wherein performing the searchfor the first subset of the art images includes extrapolating dimensionsof the disliked art images as filters for searching for the first subsetof images.
 14. The method of claim 11 further comprising: receiving aselection of a second art image from the first subset of the art images;displaying to the user a subset of the set of dimensions associated withthe second art image, the subset of the set of dimensions determinedbased on a probability of the set of dimensions of the second art image;receiving a selection of a dimension from the subset of the set ofdimensions; and performing, using the dimension selected by the user asa query to discover a second subset of the art images, wherein eachimage of the second subset has a dimension corresponding to thedimension of the second art image.
 15. The method of claim 14, whereinthe second subset of art images contains images not included in thefirst subset of the art images.
 16. The method of claim 14 furthercomprising: purchasing, at an e-commerce website, the second art imageof the first subset or a third art image of the second subset of artimages.
 17. A graphical user interface on a computing device fordiscovering images of art works, comprising: a first plurality of imagesof art works, wherein when a first image of the images is selected, anenlarged version of the first image is displayed, the enlarged firstimage overlapping some of the remaining of the images, wherein theenlarged version of the image is of a particular polygonal shape, thepolygonal shape including a specific number of sides; a representationof a plurality of dimensions of the first image displayed in associationwith the first image, wherein a number of dimensions displayed inassociation with the first image is determined as a function of thepolygonal shape of the first image with at least one dimension displayedper each of the sides and alongside each of the sides; and a searchaction associated with each of the dimensions that performs, using aselected one or more dimensions of the first image as a first query, asearch for a second plurality of images of the art works, wherein eachimage of the second plurality of images has one or more dimensionscorresponding to the one or more selected dimensions of the first image.18. The graphical user interface of claim 17, wherein the number ofdimensions displayed is at least as many as the number of sides of thepolygonal shape of the first image.
 19. The graphical user interface ofclaim 17 further comprising: a first action associated with a dimensionof the dimensions which, when performed, displays one or moresub-dimensions for the selected dimension, the one or moresub-dimensions displayed as a list interface, the list interfaceextending from the dimension.
 20. The graphical user interface of claim17 further comprising: a text input interface to receive text includingkeywords for searching art images.
 21. The graphical user interface ofclaim 17, wherein the first art image is displayed using a webpage, andwherein the representation is a selectable object on the webpage. 22.The graphical user interface of claim 21, wherein the selectable objectis a graphical image.
 23. The graphical user interface of claim 21,wherein the selectable object is textual.
 24. A system comprising: aprocessor; a dimension module, communicatively coupled to the processor,to associate a set of dimensions with each of a plurality of images; avisualization module, communicatively coupled to the processor, toprovide a graphical user interface (GUI) for receiving a selection of afirst art image of the art images, displaying a subset of the set ofdimensions of the first image to be displayed to a user, the subsetdetermined based on a probability of the set of dimensions, theprobability determined using previously collected user preferences forthe set of dimensions of the first image, receiving a user selection ofa dimension from the subset of the set of dimensions associated with thefirst art image, and performing a search for a first subset of the artimages, wherein each image of the first subset of the art images has atleast one dimension corresponding to the selected dimension.